AKL vs POLY Pros & Cons

[dacraig09]

We bought 125 poly points direct about 5 years ago and we are looking to add 125 more either poly resale or AKL direct. Talk to me about pros and cons of both. Here are my current thoughts:

AKL direct Pros
11 month booking window for Value rooms
Availability to use points at future resorts
Disney 1 year financing available?

AKL direct Cons
Pricier per point
Shorter term left on contract
Would having 2 home resorts get confusing?

Poly resale Pros
More affordable
Longer contract
Same home resort

Poly resale Cons
Cannot use for future resorts
No 1 bedrooms

 

[sethschroeder]

Disney 1 year financing available?

You can get 6 months free with Visa plus get an extra 90 days upfront on most of the payment before it hits your credit card. The benefit it is you are not financing and paying interest.

Would having 2 home resorts get confusing?

No but you can't combine them at 11 months which might be downer.

11 month booking window for Value rooms

Don't count on it every year more and more people will likely start trying to grab the rooms and walk them.

No 1 bedrooms

True but are you going to really be booking 1br with just 125 points at AKV? Which by the way is easy to get at 7 months most of the year with your POLY points likely.

Availability to use points at future resorts

This is a positive and its nice that all your points would be direct.



Have you thought about a shorter contract at BWV? Which would get you cheaper 1BRs if you wanted, easy access to Epcot, and a lower price point basically in line with AKV resale?

 

[skippytx]

AKL value rooms should not be a factor when deciding if you should purchase there. Pretend they don’t exist. If you manage to get one, congrats, but don’t expect to ever get one.

 

[Bobby2443]

Personally I think the distance from the parks is the biggest factor. With Poly you can monorail to ML and eventually Epcot, with AKL you are far from everything. You've got a lot of good pros and cons but for me the distance from the parks would be the biggest factor.

 

[dacraig09]

You can get 6 months free with Visa plus get an extra 90 days upfront on most of the payment before it hits your credit card. The benefit it is you are not financing and paying interest.



No but you can't combine them at 11 months which might be downer.



Don't count on it every year more and more people will likely start trying to grab the rooms and walk them.



True but are you going to really be booking 1br with just 125 points at AKV? Which by the way is easy to get at 7 months most of the year with your POLY points likely.



This is a positive and its nice that all your points would be direct.



Have you thought about a shorter contract at BWV? Which would get you cheaper 1BRs if you wanted, easy access to Epcot, and a lower price point basically in line with AKV resale?

Thank you for your reply. All very good points. I think I will look at the Disney Visa as opposed to the 1 year financing. We did consider Boardwalk but I don’t really feel good about the fact that it expires so soon.

 

[dacraig09]

AKL value rooms should not be a factor when deciding if you should purchase there. Pretend they don’t exist. If you manage to get one, congrats, but don’t expect to ever get one.

Thank you for your reply. We have been very lucky and have been able to get several value studios, a couple value 1 bedrooms, and even a value 2 bedroom lock off within the last 4 years using our Poly points in the 7 month window. I know it’s not a guarantee since there are so few rooms but I’m hopeful the 11 month window would make it even easier since we are looking for 1 bedrooms and the studios seem to be the most in demand.

 

[dacraig09]

Personally I think the distance from the parks is the biggest factor. With Poly you can monorail to ML and eventually Epcot, with AKL you are far from everything. You've got a lot of good pros and cons but for me the distance from the parks would be the biggest factor.

Very valid point and this is one of the main reasons we bought Poly to begin with. In our current phase of life though (we have toddler twins) 1 bedrooms are the most important factor for us and we find that we drive our own vehicle to the parks most days.

 

[princesscinderella]

If you go to Disney more than once a year or like split stays I’d say go for the AK points. If not keep the same resort so you can book exactly what you need at 11 months and then change if you want at the 7 month. We have lots of home resorts but we go to WDW every month or two for a long weekend so I like booking exactly what I want at the 11 month window and not having to stalk to change. So depending on the trip or time of year we choose which resort we want to stay at and book using those points. I don’t like that Poly doesn’t have 1/2 bedrooms and we love staying at AKV. I love the theming of both resorts so I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice. Having some direct points to use anywhere is nice. Especially once DL tower opens too.

 

[Lee Matthews]

No proof what so ever but if they were to expand the Skyliner, I would be shock if it doesn’t come to the AKL next.

I’m not buying there because I expect it will come but it would be an amazing addition

 

[sethschroeder]

No proof what so ever but if they were to expand the Skyliner, I would be shock if it doesn’t come to the AKL next.

I would be shocked that it would go to AKL.

• Over 50% of AKL/AKV is owned by DVC (meaning they would need to raise the capital for the investment via MFs)
• AKL -> AK -> CS -> HS/EPCOT would be a fairly long ride with multiple stops since I would expect a CBR type station at CS that went to AK/Epcot or HS/All Stars
• AKL -> AK is easily done with a singular running bus going back and forth all day
• Smaller investment would be a walking path with minimal future costs
• Rumors (directly from a Doppelmayr employee) had the next expansion going towards Disney Spring

The exception to this is if Disney decided to turn all of AKL in to DVC and could bankroll a skyliner line based on selling the rest of that resort out. There likely would still be a negative impact on current AKV owners though as Disney would be passing a portion of that expense on to owners there.

 

[RoseGold]

IMO AKL is currently overpriced. If you want value and/or 1BR rooms, I would buy BLT resale.

Whether you should buy direct depends on how long you plan to hold it IMO.

I like AKL, I just wouldn't buy it because it's always available when I travel, and I would never book a value room.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

AKV is nice even for the standard rooms which compare very favorably in points. Plus you would have the potential for Value if if not counting on it. With 2 young children the 1BR's would likely be a very nice option to have. AKV Kidani 1BR's are great because of the 2nd bathroom in the living area. Why only direct for AKV though? It is actually cheaper resale than PVB resale and a decent chunk less than AKV direct though not as big of a difference as PVB resale is to direct.

 

[sndral]

I’m in the minority & BLT has ardent fans, but I’m not one of them - I call BLT the first of the DVC office tower construction era lol. Now nearby VGF I love. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
OP if you want 1 br.s why are you even keeping those Poly points? Depending on when you bought, can you sell them at a profit and buy in at a resort that better suits your current family needs? I’d think long and hard about adding on at a resort where the only villas are studios when you already don’t want to stay in studios, especially as your twins get older and you find yourself wanting more space & having to go during school vacations when 7 month switching may become more challenging.
I’m also confused about why you’d only buy AKV direct and Poly resale, if you are ok w/ resale restrictions at the Poly why not at AKV?
As for owning at 2 resorts, I do, and I either alternate stays or do split stays. I’ve used my AKV points to sleep around a bit, but my VGF points I only use to stay there.

 

[Marionnette]

AKL direct Pros
11 month booking window for Value rooms. There are so few Value and Club Level rooms that this really should not be a deciding factor.
Availability to use points at future resorts How many future resorts do you expect to be built before your directly purchased contract expires?
Disney 1 year financing available? I'm not a big proponent of financing DVC but financing is also available for resale purchases.

AKL direct Cons
Pricier per point and the dues are high
Shorter term left on contract which is why the $/point is lower
Would having 2 home resorts get confusing? I have 4 home resorts. It only gets confusing when I have a few points from A and a few left in B and I really, really, really want to book at 11 months at C (but I want to use those A and B points up). Nope. Can't do that!

Poly resale Pros
More affordable but only because you're comparing resale at Poly to direct at AKV. That's an apples to potatoes comparison. Are you okay with resale restrictions or not?
Longer contract True, but do you plan to keep the contract for its entire life? Many DVC owners end up becoming disenchanted and sell before the contract expires.
Same home resort But do you need more Poly points? Or would owning at a second resort give you more options during the 11-7 month home resort booking window?

Poly resale Cons
Cannot use for future resorts see above
No 1 bedrooms Are you a 1BR -2BR family? If so, then having Poly as a home resort isn't for you, regardless of whether it's resale or direct.

 

[Shellyred8]

If you are ok with the resale restrictions, I would vote for BLT resale in your situation. Like Kidani, their 1br's have 2 full baths. That and being within walking distance to MK is a big win, in my book, especially with twin toddlers!

 

[limace]

I wouldn’t buy direct-you already have the minimum direct needed for benefits so I don’t see a benefit for you. I haven’t bought Disney’s line that it’s worth buying more directs than minimum but there are some on this board that disagree with me. I’d buy AKL or BLT resale-you can always alternate stays one year at one resort with banking and borrowing and then switch to the other resort for the next stay.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

i vote for AKL. if you have a blue card already buy resale

 

[AliceIn]

I love the convenience of the Poly. I anticipate spending a lot of nights there with just me and my husband. We have enough points to do one bedrooms when the kids are with us. We own at Poly and OKW. I have not had any trouble booking at AKL at 7 months out. We have never tried for value rooms.

We own direct and resale.

 

[kenyoncad]

We own both Poly and AKL plus Riviera and SSR. Of your choices i would go AKL, but resale. However, have you stayed at CCV? We love the boat to MK which is probably just as easy as the monorail from Poly, and CCV has a variety of room-sizes, plus the resort is beautiful.
We bought Poly because its my wifes favorite resort, but we have found 1 beds work best for our family, and if we could do it over we would pick CCV over Poly.
Another option could be Riviera if you want to buy direct, but the point chart is really high for larger rooms, but as your kids get older the skyliner gives great access to Epcot and HS.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

To me, it comes down to if you want 1/2 bedroom accommodations. That is the only major negative of Poly.

I think AKL would be a good choice for a second resort as it is a different area of property with a different feel. You could play with banking/borrowing to alternate between the two resorts while still having the home resort booking advantage.

Personally I think the distance from the parks is the biggest factor. With Poly you can monorail to ML and eventually Epcot, with AKL you are far from everything. You've got a lot of good pros and cons but for me the distance from the parks would be the biggest factor.

I feel like this is more of a feeling than truth because the only park that AKL is really far from is MK. For example, the monorail from Poly to Epcot takes longer than a bus from AKL to Epcot.

No proof what so ever but if they were to expand the Skyliner, I would be shock if it doesn’t come to the AKL next.

I’m not buying there because I expect it will come but it would be an amazing addition

I could see a Coronado+AK+AKL loop. I agree with a prior poster though that Disney Springs (especially if Brightline happens) would be much more likely for the next expansion.